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Former South African officials banned for match-fixing

Xinhua, March 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

Three former officials at the South African Football Association (SAFA) have been banned from taking part in any football related activities, the association confirmed on Monday.

FIFA's independent Ethics Committee imposed the sanctions on former SAFA Chief Executive Officer, Leslie Sedibe, and two former heads of referees, Adeel Carelse and Steve Goddard, for their involvement in match-making.

SAFA "welcomes sanctions imposed on former football officials regarding the international friendly matches played by the South African men's senior national team (Bafana Bafana) ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup," the association said.

The investigation, initiated on November 2014 against SAFA officials, was conducted by Cornel Borbely who is the chair of the Investigatory Chamber of the Ethics Committee, in collaboration with the FIFA Security Division.

In this case, former head of referees, Lindile Kika, was banned from all football-related activities for six years and former SAFA CEO Leslie Sedibe was found to have infringed rules related to disclosure, cooperation and reporting of the FIFA Code of Ethics. Sedibe has been banned for five years from all football-related activities and also was fined.

Furthermore, former SAFA employees Adeel Carelse and Steve Goddard were both also found guilty and each received a ban of two years.

"We are glad this matter has ultimately reached this stage since SAFA reported the matter to FIFA almost four years ago," said Poobalan Govindasamy, chairperson of the SAFA Ethics Committee.

"It had dragged on too long for our liking and was starting to have an impact on us as an association and our valued stakeholders.

"At SAFA we have a zero-tolerance policy for any corrupt activity which impacts negatively on this beautiful game and for that reason we welcome strong measures against any individual who is found guilty of such offenses.

"This should serve as a warning to anyone harboring intentions of engaging in nefarious activities within the sport that the long arm of the law will catch up with them. Be warned!" Endi